4 steps to successful eportfolio implementation

4 steps to successful eportfolio implementation

It's all in the planning and preparation.

Successful eportfolio implementation is all in the planning and preparation. Over the past decade we have been involved in a great number of initiatives with a diverse range of organisations, and we've learned more than a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to eportfolio implementation. In this blog post I'll bring together some of this learning and intersperse it with the latest insight and stories of success from some of our existing customers. If you're considering portfolio implementation, you can also download some useful free resources from our own implementation toolkit.

It is clear that factors such as a robust tool, good pedagogy, and skilled and enthusiastic staff are all very important, but even with these things in place, many implementations are unsuccessful in the long term. Why?? I believe success hinges on 4 factors; indeed the best eportfolio implementations are strategic, holistic, supported and have senior buy in With these four things in place, the hard work of the teaching and support staff on the ground has a fighting chance of being both successful and sustainable, and likely to translate into real outcomes for the organisation and all of its members. Let's have a look at these key factors in more detail ...

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1. Senior buy-in.

The initial push for an eportfolio implementation often comes from the teachers within an organisation, as it should. The key to successful implementation is that the initiative is then adopted by senior management and it receives a genuine endorsement from up high.

A high-level decision to move forward with an eportfolio implementation must be accompanied by the following elements:

A clearly articulated purpose behind the decision.

A working party with representation from all stakeholders to lead and guide the implementation process.

A consultative process for the selection of an appropriate platform.

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“

.... the most important function of institutional leadership may be to create a shared vision that includes widespread input and support from the faculty and administration, articulates a clear educational purpose, has validity for stakeholders, and reflects the broader mission of the institution.

Berge & Shrum (1998), cited in Uys (2007)

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2. A strategic plan for roll-out.

It is much better to start with great success on a smaller scale than moderate success at a larger scale. Generating positive, local use case examples is crucial to building momentum and growing successful use.

Early adopters – who will receive support to be the first to implement?

Targets – what is your timeline for implementation for at least the next three years?

Process for ensuring quality rather than just quantity (for sustained growth it is essential that all use is good use).

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“

We began with a vision in mind of what success would look like and we worked to ensure that our implementation decisions aligned with this vision. We had to ensure that staff and student experiences were positive. Early adopters were by invitation, based on their preparedness for using a new tool and embedding the tool across a three or four-year degree program. These users were provided with high levels of learning design support and, as a result, we were able to develop exemplars for future users as we went.

Priscilla Trahar, Learning Designer, University of the Sunshine Coast

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3. A holistic approach.

Portfolios, by their very nature, are about life-wide and lifelong learning. Whether at a program, faculty and/or institution level, portfolio use needs to be embedded in all aspects of the learning journey.

The benefits of a holistic approach include:

Maximising value for money – the more extensive the use of the tool, the better value it represents for the organisation and all of its users.

Normalisation of the tool – the more extensive the use, the more the tool becomes part of the everyday learning and teaching environment.

Easier to support – a tool that is used extensively is easier to resource and support.

4. Resources to support the troops on the ground.

Do not just buy the technology and hope for the best! Any technology implementation requires a support structure to be wrapped around it and eportfolios are no different. In fact, the transformative nature of eportfolio learning means that initial resource requirements are perhaps higher than with other new technologies. Ideally, the following should be in place:

A technical team to support integrations with other systems.

A pedagogical team to support teachers in their use of the tool.

A central team to support central service initiatives.

Plans for sustaining project resources.

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The implementation toolkit

With the above factors in place the ‘real’ implementation planning can begin. Based on our extensive experience, and further validated by advice published by Jisc and the outputs of the Catalyst for Learning project, we have developed a dedicated Implementation Toolkit to guide this planning process. Through a series of workshops the representative working party can use the Toolkit to work on the following:

Clarify project team roles and responsibilities

Understand the product

Vision and purpose for use – ensuring everyone is on the same page and using the same language

Project plan – priorities, milestones and timelines

Understanding the different users

The Toolkit also helps identify needs and processes for:

training

support

policy/strategy

review/evaluation

communication

Pauline Porcaro recently used the Toolkit to develop an implementation plan for Swinburne University. See below for her feedback about the value of these resources. If you would like to know more, you can download your own free copy of the Toolkit. We hope you enjoy learning about our approach and if you need us to come into your organisation and help you line your ducks up (or even work out which ducks you need) we can do that too.

Further reading

Author

Alison is PebblePad's Australian Director and one of two implementation consultants supporting our customers across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Alison has notched up more than 20 years' experience working within the Higher Education sector and gets great satisfaction from helping our customers get the very most out of PebblePad. Alison lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland - her UK colleagues remain adamant they are in no way shape or form envious of this fact (but she remains far from convinced).

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About the author

Alison Poot

Alison is PebblePad's Australian Director and one of two implementation consultants supporting our customers across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Alison has notched up more than 20 years' experience working within the Higher Education sector and gets great satisfaction from helping our customers get the very most out of PebblePad. Alison lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland - her UK colleagues remain adamant they are in no way shape or form envious of this fact (but she remains far from convinced).

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